GHAPOHA / GCNET Launch New Transit System
At Ghana Port's
The Ghana Customs Excise and Preventative Service (CEPS) has announced
the introduction of a new system for goods transiting through Ghana.
The operational start date is 4th September 2006. For full details
please click here.
Handling
of Reefer Containers In Tema - Temporary Guidelines
Please note that due to temporary interruptions in electricity supply
the Ghana Port and Harbours Authority has implemented temporary guidelines
for the handling of reefer containers (import & export) in the
port of Tema.
IMPORTERS are requested to take delivery of their reefer containers
direct delivery under tackle from the discharging vessel.
EXPORTERS are requested to arrange for direct delivery of their reefer
containers alongside the loading vessel.
We will keep you advised of further developments.
For further information please contact our Tema agent:
Antrak Ghana
P.O. Box 148
The Commercial Warehouse Area
Tema Harbour
Tel: (+233) 2221 8460
Fax: (+233) 2221 8461
Importation
of Vehicles now require Evidence of Ownership - 16/11/05
In order to prevent stolen vehicles from
entering the country, Ghana's Customs authorities have implemented
new measures applicable to call vehicles imported in the country.
With immediate effect, all imports of vehicles (cars or trucks) must
be accompanied by one of the following documents as evidence of bonafide
ownership before vehicles can be cleared from the ports:
Certificate of Title
Certificate of Origin
Certificate of Retail Sales
Bills of Sales
Or any other officially authorised evidence of bonafide ownership
Update on the current congestion
at the Tema port - 04/02/05
Following the heavy congestion at the Tema Port, the Ghana Instititute
of Freight Forwarders [GIFF] has issued the attached communique to
alert all Importers/Exporters on the situation at the Tema port.
NOTICE TO IMPORTERS AND EXPORTERS
Press Statement on State of Affairs at Tema Port
The Ghana Institute
of Freight Forwarders wishes to inform the general public and importers
in particular that clearing of cargo at Tema Port
has become a difficult task due to the following:
Lack of equipment
Excessive
container and vehicular congestion
Non-availability of space
for examination
Breakdown of container tracking
system
In view of the above, locating
a container is almost an impossibility. It could take between
one to three weeks to do a
clearing process. With the myriad of problems, there is
very little
the agents
or forwarders can do
We are however in constant discussion
with the various authorities to find lasting solutions to the problems.
The institute is therefore calling on all importing
public in particular to bear with their agents
and forwarders
till such time that the situation
at the port is brought under control.
Issued: The Secretariat - Ghana Institute of
Freight Forwarders [GIFF]
Ghana - Burkina Faso: New Rail
Line Planned to Link Burkina Faso to the Coast - 14/06/04
Trains could soon be running from landlocked Burkina Faso to the Atlantic
ports of Ghana following the construction of a planned US $750 million
railway line to take the pressure of rapidly growing freight traffic
off Ghana's battered roads.
Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, the Minister for Ports, Habours and Railways,
said that a six-month feasibility study of the proposed new line from
Kumasi in central Ghana to manganese deposits near Dori, 200 km northeast
of the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou, would start in July. Finance
for the project could then be raised next year, he added.
Burkina Faso, and its equally landlocked neighbours, Mali and Niger,
traditionally depended on road and rail links to the port of Abidjan
in Côte d'Ivoire for most of their external trade. But since
Côte d'Ivoire plunged into civil war nearly two years ago, with
rebels seizing the north of the country, they have been forced to divert
much of their trade to Tema and Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana and other
ports in West Africa.
Transit trade through Tema harbour near the capital Accra soared from
20,000 tonnes in 1999 to 610,000 tonnes in 2002, when the civil war
in Côte d'Ivoire erupted. It jumped to more than 700,000 tonnes
last year, putting severe pressure on Ghana's trunk north-south highway
from Tema to Paga on the border with Burkina Faso. That is why the
idea to develop a railway network has come up. Both the roads and rail
networks need to complement each other.
Officials from Ghana and Burkina Faso are due to start work in July
on a feasibility study of the proposed 1,252 km rail link between the
two countries, with the help of US $5.4 million from the African Development
Bank. It will take six months to complete the feasibility study.
Officials said that besides carrying much of the existing freight that
currently travels by road, the new line could boost mining activities
in both partner countries. Burkina Faso has huge manganese deposits
in the northeast, where the single track line would end, while Ghana
has undeveloped iron ore deposits near the northeastern town of Yendi.
"
A branch of the proposed railway line will go into Yendi. That line
and the one that extends to the Burkinabe manganese fields will be
used to cart both iron ore and manganese ore to the Tema and Takoradi
harbours for export," Ameyaw-Akumfi explained.
The line might also improve food distribution within Ghana itself,
providing a faster, cheaper way to get farm produce from the country's
breadbasket in the interior to markets in the heavily populated south.
The lack of good road networks often means that after bumper harvests
food often ends up rotting on farms because there is no way to get
it to market. Transport savings might also lead to lower food prices.
Most railway lines in West Africa date from the colonial era and are
now rundown and neglected. Ghana's existing rail network, which links
Kumasi to the country's two main ports is no exception.
Besides building this new railway line, Ghana wants to revamp its rundown
and barely used southern railway network by leasing out existing lines
to private operators to operate as a concession in return for a commitment
to provide badly needed investment. Tenders have been issued and bids
are due in by July.
"
We expect to raise substantial revenue from our railway lines as well
as the inter-country line in the near future especially taking into
consideration traffic that passes through Ghana to our landlocked neighbours," Ameyaw-Akumfi
said.
Ghana's two sea ports at Tema and Takoradi are reaping economic benefits
from the Ivorian crisis, since transit cargo for several landlocked
countries in the region are now diverted to the two ports. But according
to Cletus Kuyagbe, Operations Manager of the Ghana Ports and Harbours
Authority, the diversion of goods to the Tema Port had also put pressure
on the resources. Scores of articulated trucks carrying goods for export
or imported by Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire, are a common
sight on Ghanaian roads.
Musah Issaka, Principal Administrative Officer of the Ghana Shippers'
Council, said total Liner Import carriage for half-year in 2003 saw
an increase of 33.64 percent over that of 2002. Similarly, for the
second quarter of 2003, all the cargo carriage - Liner, Dry Bulk and
Liquid Bulk - generally increased, with the total import showing a
rise of 614,652 tons representing 44 percent over that of the first
quarter of 2003.
"
Total transit cargo for the period (first half of 2003) under review,
amounted to 384,655 tons," Issaka added. Tema Port accounted for
327,544 tons of the cargo, while Takoradi Port handled 57,111 tons.
The Tema Port also registered an increase in transit trade of about
72 percent over the same period in 2002, with Niger, Mali and Burkina
Faso accounting for 90 percent of the total. Other countries of final
destination for either import or export were Guinea
Conakry, Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Togo.
Officials said the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority has set up an
office in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to facilitate the business of
shippers in both countries.
Meanwhile, authorities of the Takoradi Port have taken new measures
to boost its operations and overall service delivery to expand its
share of business in the sub-region.
Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority has also reduced transit tariffs
for Takoradi Port in order to attract more cargo destined for the landlocked
countries.
Bagged cargo in transit enjoy 20 percent rebate on stevedooring and
port dues. These include rice, sugar, flour and fertiliser. Stevedooring
and port dues on containerised cargo in transit also attract 10 percent
rebate. With the exception of harbour rent, all other marine-related
charges, that is, piloting, towage moorings, unmooring, now attract
a rebate of 10 percent.
The Takoradi Port recorded 32,367 metric tonnes of cargo between January
and March this year, as against 33,981 metric tonnes during the same
period in 2003.
This represents a shortfall of 4.74 per cent.
Mr. Nestor Galley,Director of the Takoradi Port, disclosed this at
the sod cutting for the construction of three new warehouses valued
at 28.8 billion cedis at the Takoradi Port.
He said the shortfall was due to the unavailability of transit sheds
and warehouses within the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan area. Mr.
Galley said the Takoradi Port has for time, diverted some vessels carrying
transit cargo to other ports due to the limited warehousing and transit
sheds. He said the new transit shed would have a capacity of 40,000
metric tonnes and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) would
finance the project, which would be completed in eight months time.
Mr. Galley said though some private warehouses had assisted the Port,
the storage facilities are inadequate. He said the transit sheds would
go a long way to benefit the GPHA and the Ghana Railway Company (GRC),
since "most of the goods would soon be transported by rail".
Papa Ankomah said the Ghana Shippers Council and two other investors,
had presented plans to government for construction of warehouse,
hostel and parking bays for haulage trucks.
Ghana, Mali sign memorandum of understanding
on freight management
The Ghana Shippers' Council (GSC) and the Mali Shippers' Council (MSC)
have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will provide a
common platform to promote the efficient management of freight generated
through bilateral trade between the two countries and facilitate the
movement of people in the two countries. The MOU, which comes into
effect a month from 13/05/04, will also offer mutual assistance to
the economic operators of the two countries in order to enhance the
competitiveness of the international transport chain. It will also
ensure the harmonization of policies and the coordination of efforts
to guarantee the best conditions for transport.
It further seeks to promote the exchange of technical information
and data on commercial and administrative procedures and relevant
regulations in force in either country. It will also demand that
the two countries work together to ensure the free flow of road traffic
through common assistance to hauliers, and thereby put in place a
cargo monitoring system throughout the corridor.
Mr Emmanuel Martey, the deputy chief executive of the GSC, signed
for Ghana, while the chairman of the MSC, Mr Amadou Djigue, signed
for Mali, at a ceremony at the head office of the GSC. The MOU, which
comprises 12 articles, provides that the parties hold regular consultations,
at least once a year, in each other's country, and where a party
desires an amendment or revision, notice accompanied by proposals
for the revision should be forwarded to the other party, at least
three months before the date of the meeting for such a revision or
amendment. In an address before the signing, Mr Martey noted that
when the GSC embarked on the transit trade crusade, the first recorded
figure of the total transit cargo through the Ghanaian corridor in
1999 was only 108,963 metric tonnes.
However, through hard work and the collaboration of stakeholders,
the trade recorded 650,000 metric tonnes of cargo in 2003, a rise
of about 500 per cent, and expressed the hope that the trade would
hit one million metric tonnes by the end of 2005. The deputy chief
executive disclosed that Mali's share of the transit trade through
Ghana moved from a modest 91 metric tonnes in 1999 to 324 ,000 metric
tonnes in 2003, saying that increase was very significant, considering
the fact that Mali's share of the total transit cargo through the
Ghanaian corridor rose from a mere 0.08 per cent in 1999, to as much
as 49.7 per cent last year.
He said Mali's cargo transiting the Ghanaian corridor was composed
mainly of sugar and textiles. The GSC's objective is for Ghana to
transit the largest share of Mali's transit cargo by 2007, he stated.
Mr Martey, however, expressed concern about the increasing number
of road barriers erected along the trade routes and said, currently,
there were about 30 barriers by the Ghana Police Service and the
Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), between Tema and Paga
on the way to Burkina Faso. Mr Djigue said a lot of Malian cotton
comes to Ghana and stressed the need for resources to be mobilized
towards the provision of warehouses to facilitate the trade and reduce
cost. He thanked the government of Ghana for all it was doing to
promote the trade between the two countries and said Mali had come
to do business with Ghana and would stay. Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi asked
the Malian officials to educate their drivers who use the Ghanaian
corridor to abide by existing road regulations and not to drive for
long distances without resting.
